Oil giant Petro bras on Friday posted its first quarterly loss in more than 13 years, fanning concerns that the company, hampered by government intervention and soaring costs, will fail to meet its goal of becoming one of the three biggest crude producers by the end of the decade.

Copper rose on Thursday, rebounding from near one-week lows hit in the previous session as investors looked to Europe for more easing measures after the U.S. Federal Reserve dashed hopes by deferring fresh monetary stimulus.

Friday, 3 August 2012

Asian shares and the euro fell on Friday as investors shunned risk after the European Central Bank took no immediate action and only hinted at future steps to tackle the euro zone’s fiscal woes, following similar inaction from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

U.S. Treasuries prices jumped on Thursday after the European Central Bank offered no bold plan to shore up the euro zone’s banking system and the finances of weaker euro zone members, rekindling bids for low-risk government debt.

Oil prices were also supported a U.S. Energy Information Administration report that showed a 6.5 million barrel drop in domestic crude oil inventories last week, the largest weekly drawdown since December and far more than the 700,000 drawdown forecast in a Reuters poll.

Copper steadied on Friday but was set to log its biggest weekly loss in two months after European Central Bank inaction disappointed markets and as concerns over global growth dragged on xpectations of metals demand.